The present invention relates to duct and screen arrangements for assuring that relatively clean air is drawn into the shroud of an air cooled engine by the engine cooling fan.
Air cooled engines that are used in vehicles are usually either of a design including a vertical crankshaft having a cooling fan coupled to the top thereof for drawing air in through an inlet provided in the top of the engine shroud, or of a design including a horizontal crankshaft having a cooling fan coupled to an end thereof for drawing air in through a fore-and-aft opening inlet provided in the engine shroud. While various duct and screen arrangements have been applied to engines having vertical crankshafts, these arrangements are not applicable to engines having horizontal crankshafts. Examples of known duct and screen arrangements are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,277 granted on Mar. 12, 1974, U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,766 granted on Oct. 26, 1976 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 347,121 filed on Feb. 9, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,309.
Now, there has been designed a duct and screen arrangement which is particularly adapted for use with air cooled engines having their crankshafts disposed horizontally.